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The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2008
Gibson, Bell and Sidebottom in Wisden five
Cricinfo staff
April 9, 2008
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On top of the world: Ottis Gibson's 80 wickets earned him his award
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Three Englishmen, an Indian and a West Indian have been named as the Five Cricketers of the Year, cricket's oldest accolade, in this year's Wisden Cricketers' Almanack which is published today.
Ian Bell, Ryan Sidebottom and Ottis Gibson were chosen for the award alongside India's Zaheer Khan and the West Indian, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. All were chosen for their influence on the past English season, the traditional criteria for selection. Four of the five were picked for their achievements on the international stage, but Gibson's nomination came for his outstanding performances for Durham last season.
In the autumn of his career, Gibson led Durham's attack magnificently to end the season with 80 wickets - only ten fewer than Mushtaq Ahmed and as one of two lone seamers in the top five wicket-takers in the Championship. His coup de grace came in July when he skittled Hampshire for 115, becoming the 79th player to take all ten wickets in an innings.
Bell stood out as the England batsman who grew up, even if statistically he lacked the huge scores everyone continues to expect from him. It was in one-day cricket that he progressed the most, with an un-English strike-rate of 93. "It was hard to ignore the style," Lawrence Booth wrote. "The confidence placed
in him as a senior batsman helped bring out that diminutive, almost impish,
aestheticism; his cover-drive won the team's beauty contest hands down. The
catches he has made at short leg, or at silly point when Monty Panesar has
been bowling, have long indicated a ball-sense of world-class standard."
From a burgeoning talent to one man's renaissance: Sidebottom forced his way in and, such has success been, that he is now one of the first names on the team sheet. A late developer, Sidebottom finally took his first Test wicket six years after his made his Test debut in 2001. Now, as Simon Hughes writes," he was now sure of his ability and trusted his
methods of fast-medium-pace and probing left-arm inswing from an impressive
6ft 3in frame. They soon brought rewards. After the appalling waywardness
of Harmison and Co in early summer, his steadiness was immensely reassuring,
and his duel with a struggling Tendulkar in the Trent Bridge Test was, for the
purist, one of the highlights of the summer".
Another left-armer stole the limelight from Sidebottom later in the summer, however. Zaheer took 18 wickets in the three Tests, including nine during India's seven-wicket win at Trent Bridge, leading many to consider him the best left-armer India had ever possessed. His excellence was of little surprise to Worcestershire's supporters, the club at which Zaheer honed his variations in 2006. "Playing for Worcestershire meant playing in different conditions, pitch and weather for five months. You had to innovate, use your thinking power," he told Pradeep Vijayakar in his piece in the Almanack.
Chanderpaul's inclusion was perhaps the most expected of all. No other West Indian batsman showed his resilience, guts and skill against England. As Ian Bishop wrote, "that no other West Indian managed a score of more than 60 in the Tests speaks of the yawning gap between his skill, commitment and experience - and theirs".
Jacques Kallis was named as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2007, while Kevin Pietersen adorned the front cover.
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